I will give you a little history as to why I am so eager to try new things. It runs in the family. After the war in 1948, a new car was offered in America. It was the Tucker. Wow! That automobile had more bells and whistles than could be imagined. “The Tucker is the car of the future offered today,” they said. Dad wanted one. He could taste it, he wanted one so badly.

Let me tell you about the Tucker. The engine was a rear mounted H-6 (horizontaly opposed, ohv, 335 ci, 166 bhp and 372 lbs/ft torque), whatever that all means.

There was a lineup at the new dealership in town. Dad got in line. (Something he hated to do, by the way.) When presented with their payment plan, Dad balked. There would be a substantial down payment in advance. No way. As much as he wanted a Tucker car, he would wait until they had one on the lot. The Tucker never did hit the market. Those who had secured their place in line, lost their deposit. It turned out that only 51 cars were built. Of the 47 that survived, they now sell for a quarter of a million dollars. Yeah!

Fast forward to the era of the Edsel. It, too, was deemed the car of the future. I wanted one. My husband wanted one. It WAS the car of the future, that we were dead sure of. Wow! Punch buttons in the center of the steering wheel gave you the selection of gears. Those twin headlights stood out as well. On the more expensive models, a cover protected the bulbs when not in use. Sharp! The grill was state of the art. It had real bumpers, front and back.

We bought one. We felt so proud as we cruised the ave. “Look at us! Aren't we grand?” Yeah, right. The Esdel was only offered for two years. It just didn't sell. Too many bugs under the hood and round about. Our Edsel was okay. We were the exception. Most had a smorgasbord of problems.

Our Edsel didn't look so sharp after while either. A car exiting a restaurant parking lot hit our beautiful Edsel, crumpling the right front fender. Somehow, the blame was put on my husband. (I never did understand that one.) Back in the day, if an accident was deemed your fault, the insurance company didn't have to pay. They refused to pay for repairs. The front fender was never fixed. We presented a rusted mangled face to the world when we drove down the road. No cruising the ave for us anymore.

That was when we traded it in on a new Oldsmobile. We had always wanted an Olds, but felt they were out of our price range: no so. They came in all styles, colors and prices, of course. Would there be problems with our beautiful new Oldsmobile? Just one. That is another story.